PRIVATE
TERTIARY

PRIVATE
As well as the many tertiary courses available from government institutions around Australia, there are a few private recourses for study for those wishing to enter the industry, to upgrade skills through workshops and short courses, or conduct specialist research in a particular field.

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TERTIARY

Background

1. There are many options and opportunities for Aquaculture training available in Australia and around the world.
   
2. There are different levels and focuses available from relatively basic certificate courses to University degrees leading to PhD levels and beyond.
   
3. The reason people wish to study aquaculture varies, so it's important to match the type of study with the desired outcome.
   

Disease Awareness and Control

Setting up a commercial aquaculture farm can be an expensive proposition and those entering into it will have capital at their disposal and should be prepared for the major life-changing consequences of choosing this career path.
It is difficult to set up a commercially viable aquaculture farm of any type for under $500 000, even if you already have land at your disposal.

Alternatively, a small hobby level enterprise may be the goal.

In either case, a doctorate, or masters degree is not necessarily required.

Most people in these categories want to learn enough practical knowledge to set up their farm and run it… knowing that experience will be the real teacher.

The key training requirements are going to be:

• Water quality
  
• Plumbing (pumps, flow rates)
  
• Biology…and
  
• Farm management.

The best type of course in this case is one of the certificate level courses offered.

Training to enter the industry as a labourer on, for example, a prawn farm is not necessary…. but is a definite advantage. Off campus and On Campus TAFE or similar courses are ideal for this type of entry into the industry…but like many similar industries…is no guarantee of a job.

Those who have completed a certificate or diploma are best advised to get themselves 'on the spot'.
Prawn farms, with their constant feeding, offer the best chances for employment in the northern states, with the salmon, trout and tuna industries good options in the south."

To be employed by a government aquaculture research body…a bachelor degree can be enough, but industry experience will be important here. For true research positions, a doctorate is essential.

Training in the sciences to get employment in the industry can be a long road, beginning with a bachelor of science (many institutions now offer this degree in pure aquaculture), leading to a master's degree and then a doctorate. (An honours degree bypasses the master's step.)

The key to research positions is generally a specialisation that begins almost from the start of higher education.

There is also a small demand for veterinarians to service the industry although most vets with expertise in fish health are employed by the various government departments of fisheries and primary industries

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